Letter to the editor: Trained or not, we need fewer kids with guns

Many Iowans are not aware that Iowa lawmakers are working to pass a law that allows 12-year-olds to "possess a pistol or revolver or the ammunition for the pistol or revolver for any lawful purpose while under the direct supervision of the person's parent or guardian or spouse who is 21 years of age or older."

Really? So, Iowa lawmakers are OK with a 12-year-old packing a handgun in the neighborhood after school or at a birthday party - any legal place - as long as he's with a parent-approved 21-year-old? That must sound crazy to most rational Iowans.

The catchy phrase "Guns don't kill people, people do" makes sense to some people. People who support this statement say that children wouldn't be killed if they were trained in how to use guns properly - hence, the argument for beginning early and training 12-year-olds.

Children died in every state from gun deaths between 2000 and 2010. However, in Alaska, a state where there's great pride in teaching children how to safely kill a deer and gut a moose, more children were killed by guns than in any other state. Massachusetts and Hawaii were among the states with the fewest guns per 100,000 people, and they had the lowest number of children killed by guns.

This is not a coincidence. Iowans should be working toward having fewer, not more guns, in the hands of children - well trained or not.

- Marilynn Wadden, Des Moines

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Letter to the editor: Trained or not, we need fewer kids with guns

Many Iowans are not aware that Iowa lawmakers are working to pass a law that allows 12-year-olds to 'possess a pistol or revolver or the ammunition for the pistol or revolver for any lawful purpose